rawhide necklace with cross

[rawhide1]

Here's something I braided up for the wife. The cross is made out of horseshoe nails and copper. I'm not to happy with the hanger. I may remake it with a smaller dia. copper. And I might add a few small knots at the bottom as long as they don't get in the way. The body is a four strand out of 1/16th" strings. The knots are long pineapples with the strings being cut at 1/16th". Any and all critiques are welcome.

Thanks, Mike

[Jordan]

That is a beautiful piece. Much nicer than I have seen for sale in stores.

[Hilly]

That's a beautiful piece. It sooooo makes me wish I could find the time to learn to braid!

How on earth do you cut strings that fine?

Would it be possible to cover that cross with rawhide braiding in stead of copper wire?

[millwright]

That's cool rawhide1, bet you got a big grin and a kiss from her for that.

I'm curious, if you don't mind my asking, if you cover your splice with one of the pineapples, or if you continue each braid into the other one/side for a ways.

Also, do you tie your knots on a mandrel then transfer and tighten them, or tie them directly to what you're working on? I'd like to know what the knots are because I just braided a four plait braid on my pocket watch and it looks like it's about the size of your necklace. I'd like to put a button on the end of it but not sure what knot to use or really how to do it.

This is my first attempt with rawhide, or any braiding really for that matter, and I'm struggling through Bruce Grant's book and web pages trying to figure/reason out these knots.

One idea on the cross connector is make a knot out of the fine copper wire to connect it. You could take some small stainless steel wire and heat it up (ground it out on a welding machine) it will turn kinda black. After you tie your knot with it you can buff/sand the outer part of it and it shines with the dark inner part left. Looks nice on some bracelets I've seen twisted from stainless wire.

Appreciate the help and again....that necklace is some nice lookin' work.

[rawhide1]

Jordan

Thanks for the kind words.

Hilly

Thank You also. I use a Neubert string cutter and a real sharp razor blade. The moisture has to be just right also. I thought about using rawhide instead of copper on the cross. But I really liked the contrast of the copper. Maybe on the next one I'll go with rawhide. Although I think the strings would have to be around 1/64". Just so there would be enough room to build the knot. Very do able just a lot more time consuming.

Mike

[rawhide1]

millwright

Ya she liked it. Thank you for the nice comments.

There aren't any splices. The necklace is just a four strand braid that I braided for about 26" I then tied a terminal knot in each end. The two knots by the cross are four bight two turn pineapple knots. I had to do two interweaves which gave me a o3,u3 on the finished knot. The other two knots are 6bight two turn pineapple knots with a o2,u2 sequence(1 interweave). I just tied the knots around both strands and the terminal knot keeps it from slipping off of the end. On the knots by the cross I built them over a foundation of tape. I tied the two 6 bight knots over a piece of roo which allows them to slide fairly easy. So the necklace can be opened up to slip over the head and then pulled back together. I build my knots right on the piece I'm doing. And a big thanks for the ideas on the connector. I hope I answered some of your questions. But give me a holler if I didn't do it clear enough or ya need something else. Oh yea on your fob I think a 4 or 6 bight pineapple would work great. The strings would probably have to be around 1/16 or so.

Mike

Edited March 2, 2009 by rawhide1

[Opagon]

Very cool idea! I do something very similar for my hat bands.

Keep Braiding,

Heather